Building VST for music
Hi Indiehackers,
Has anyone here built VST plugin for FL Studio, Logic and/or Ableton?
What was the process?
I would like to build a plugin with 5 knobs so that users can easily mix vocals. One knob would be a compressor, one for reverb, one for eq, one for distortion and one for delay. If you were to make one how much would you charge? (Including Ui design)
I do a lot of music production work on a semi professional level, and my question to you is - what is the differentiator in your plugin? There are TONS of plugins that do what you do, but most of them have their 'secret sauce' in their algorithm - most of which is the emulation of classic hardware devices.
Do you have a unique algorithm which can mimic a classic analog or tube based compressor, reverb etc.? The audio community is a VERY fussy one, not to mention cheap, so you have to have something killer to break through the noise.
Hi Devan.
Thank you for your thoughts. I just started thinking about this so maybe it would be better for me to ask you what you would want?
I have a core product and am building a subscriber base off of it. I am looking to build out my value ladder, higher margin products. I was thinking the value proposition for a plugin could be something geared towards vocals, Extremely simple ui, 5 knobs (like waves one knob series) and offered for under 29 bucks. What do you think about this? I don’t have a unique algorithm, i would hire developers. Maybe this whole idea is the wrong concept to pursue if that’s what users find value in and it’s oversaturated. What would you find value in as a producer?
Eric
Just thinking about this some more, and relating it to a situation I had just this week. I was recording a voiceover for a video for my own startup, and when going to process the audio, I realised that a lot of my plugins and tools in Logic were just too complex and 'over the top' for quick editing.
What I think would work for you is if you had a 5 knob plugin which was marketed to a certain niche - such as podcasters or voiceover artists.
I can see tremendous value in a simple plugin that could do the basic things like:
Now THAT would be something that I would consider of value in my toolkit for those small and quick jobs where I don't want to use my full suite of tools.
I think the biggest problem with an 'all in one' VST is that, while I may LOVE your reverb section, I may not like the Delay effect at all etc. I have a lot of 'kitchen sink' plugins with that problem already.
Also, can you make a great Delay effect with just one knob? Delay is usually something where I play with the length of the tail, the number of repeats, the mix of dry/wet signal etc. How can I select dotted 8th or quarter note delay with just one knob? You will have to limit the knob to something like mix % or ms delay, but then the user misses out on so much more tweaking.
You mention Wave 'One Knob' series and the biggest winner there is that they are really simply plugins which can be manipulated with just one knob. I routinely use their 'Louder' one knob plugin, and it does just what it says on the box with just the one knob. No complications at all.
I would probably look at breaking the 5 modules you were talking about into a 'mini suite', much like the Slate Virtual Rack system. They allow you to arrange the mini plugins in a virtual rack to suit your audio taste, and the plugins range from the really complex recreations of old compressors etc., to simple one or two knob plugins which are easy to manipulate. That way I can pick my favourites and arrange them just how I like it.
If you make each of your 'modules' easy enough and intuitive to use (much like how Strymon engineering incorporate so much functionality into so few knobs on their guitar effects pedals), then I think it could be a winner in this crowded space.
Amazing suggestion Devan. Thank you very much for this. Extremely valuable.
I am a musician/producer as well so this all makes complete sense